Holiday Whirlwind

Here I am playing catch-up again. My blog may be doomed thanks to Facebook posts that keep my family somewhat updated and my increasing habit of personal journal writing (not a bad thing). Still, I think there is value to the sort of family journal that this blog has become. So I will keep trying...

November highlights:

• Voted! I was excited to cast my vote for a woman. I was not excited when the devil himself won the election. How long will it take for him to get impeached?
• Got flu shots. Oliver cried, Bruce had a panic attack, I squealed, and Phoebe didn't even notice when she was stuck by the needle. She basked in her toughness for a few weeks.
• Went to a zillion school events. Having three kids at three schools makes for lots of weeknight events. The middle school had a "health and wellness night" where we did a scavenger hunt and some other activities and won Boston Celtics tickets in a raffle; Bruce and I went to the game and had fun, but it was late for a weeknight and we were surrounded by stupid drunk people. Oliver's class had a potluck and sang a few songs as part of a presentation. 
• Attended the Harvard-Yale football game. It's a big rivalry here and tickets are hard and expensive to come by, but one of Scott's coworkers gave him tickets so we felt obligated to use them. Harvard and Yale aren't actually that good at football, so it was like watching high school football in a bigger stadium and with freezing naked college kids across the bleachers.
• Thanksgiving! We started the day off with a win and course record at the Wild Turkey Trot, then came home and cooked all day. We had the missionaries over along with an elderly man from church and a neighbor of ours who moved here from India a few months ago and had never experienced Thanksgiving.  
• Black Friday at the Zoo! We spent the day avoiding traditional retail and instead went to the Franklin Park Zoo during the day and Zoo Lights at Stone Zoo at night. 

First big snow at the neighborhood park!

Learning gun safety before going shooting with Uncle Chris.

Sledding and tubing in Ohio with family!

December highlights:

•  Selling fudge with the Boy Scouts. Bruce's scout troop made, packaged, and sold fudge as a fundraiser for scout camp. We sold fudge in the train stations and to friends and family and it occupied way too much time.
• Bruce's piano recital. He has been Skyping with his piano teacher for a few months and we had a recital with the other 10 or so Skype students. It isn't quite the same sitting in your living room watching the tiny screen for a recital, but it is sure convenient. Getting a teacher to our house has been a pain in the past: parking is hard to find and traffic is always awful, so if a teacher agrees to come it's going to cost an arm and a leg. Bruce also had a recital with his jazz band and they were very impressive!
• My church calling took over my life. As humanitarian service coordinator, there was lots to do this Christmas. I organized a toy drive through the Salvation Army, put together a wish list and fundraiser for a family in the community whose house burned down, and organized another blood drive (which I also donated at). 
• Had a birthday. With the business of everything else going on, I barely noticed turning 35. Scott did get me a cake and I got a few gifts. I'm pretty sure I got a few gray hairs from this month too.
• Phoebe graduated from her taekwondo class. She got her double black stripe belt and moved up to the youth class. It's much more intense and they add sparring too. So far, she is loving it.
• OHIO! We looked forward to this all month and were so excited to finally get in the car and go. It's a long drive, but the kids were good on the way there. We attended the family Christmas Eve bash, visited with friends, saw all nine of my siblings and their families, went shooting, did some shopping, sneaked a date in with Scott, did lots of trail running, had a bonfire, went sledding, did lots of eating, and had a wonderful Christmas morning too. The kids each other really meaningful gifts this year; I was so impressed by them. For instance, Phoebe bought Oliver a Star Wars 5-minute stories book and she got Bruce some comic books. We made it back to Boston for the new year, but the kids are already asking when we will be going to Ohio again.

Thanksgiving!

 It's official: Oliver is 18 months old and finally done breastfeeding. I hid the boppy, so for a few days he carried a pillow around the house and moaned. He appears to have forgiven me though.

 Oliver is still our blue-eyed baby, but his blond hair is looking browner. I cut it a few days after this picture was taken and it looks darker.

 Phoebe has mastered the art of two-wheeled biking. She learned in about three weeks without training wheels. She likes to point that out to Bruce, who had training wheels on for a long time (I tell Phoebe it's because I was holding her as a baby that he needed the training wheels).

 Oliver got a new set of wheels from Grandma. He is the envy of the toddlers at school drop-off.

 On Thanksgiving, we kept things low-key. Scott worked the night before, slept all day, woke up to eat, and then went back to work. We spent the day baking pies and visiting friends (pictured above). Our friends are currently attending MIT but moving back to their native Rwanda soon, so we have been trying to sneak in as much play time as possible. For Thanksgiving dinner, we went over to Miss J's house. Her parents cooked a delicious meal while we played and played and played. We tried to earn our place at the table by bringing apple and blueberry pies along with homemade vanilla bean ice cream. This year we are thankful to not have to cook so much, and Scott is more thankful for sleep than ever.

 On Black Friday, we headed out early and were first in line. At the zoo. We were so early, in fact, that when we got there the parking lot was still being plowed so we went to a park across the street for awhile. The kids loved digging around in the snow.

 When it was almost time for the zoo to open, we got in line. Success: first ones there. We spent a few hours checking out all the animals, spending the most time watching the colobus monkeys. There were two babies that were adorable, two young monkeys that were very active fighting and picking on all the others, and a few adults.

 After the zoo, we headed to McDonald's for some PlayPlace action. It was quite cold outside, so we were ready to play indoors for awhile.

And after McDonald's we went to a park and went sledding for a few minutes. The kids took turns sledding, then Bruce decided he wanted to build some big ramps out of snow - and Phoebe wanted to sled off them. After one or two runs, Phoebe got a face-full of ice and got scraped and bloody, so we had to go.

When we got to our door, we realized that Scott had accidentally locked us out (with the kind of lock that can only be unlocked from the inside) and was asleep. We headed to Dunkin' Donuts and then to the park until he woke up. It was a loooooong Black Friday.

Thankful for family, rocks, and food...

 ..among other things. This Thanksgiving, we hosted an amazing feast that I somehow did not get a single picture of. We had some traditional items: turkey and sweet potato casserole (prepared by Scott), mashed potatoes (courtesy of Jared, Scott's bro-in-law), stuffing (by Nancy), butterhorn rolls and pumpkin pie (by Valerie), cranberry sauce (by Market Basket), roasted beet-fennel salad, vegan gravy, almond-raspberry cheesecake, apple pies, homemade vanilla ice cream, and pumpkin roll (by moi).

 The feasting was good, but so was the crowd. Scott's parents, sister Nancy, her hubby Jared, and bro Mark came and stayed with us for a few days. Mark packed about one shirt and 50 pounds of climbing gear, so they put it all to good use.

 The day after Thanksgiving was Mark's birthday and Nancy thought it'd be a fantastic idea to get shirts made for everyone with Mark's kindergarten portrait on them. They turned out pretty awesome, right? As you can see, Mark is super-enthused about turning 19.

As for me, I made a 30-foot-long paper-chain of things I am thankful for. Today I am thankful that Phoebe is still napping and technology exists that makes my life simpler in some ways and allows me to reach my faraway family.

Out with Halloween, In with Thanksgiving

Since I have neglected to put photos up for more than a week (maybe 2?), here are a few recent ones. While Phoebe didn't want to wear her Halloween costume, she liked to steal parts from Bruce's. Doesn't she look like a doting mother with her little baby? And lightsaber?
These photos are from the school Halloween party. Bruce raced this girl on the hippity hop......and won when she totally ate it. Ouch.

Scott is now on his tour of the Midwest, hoping to impress more residency programs. In 10 days, he is checking out U of Pittsburgh, U of Michigan, Cleveland Clinic, and Mayo Clinic. In between all the interviewing, he is getting pampered by my parents and Grandma Tompkins. I am not the only one who is jealous: Bruce and Phoebe are wishing they were in Ohio too. But alas, we are here and making the best of it:We headed to Plymouth last weekend. Bruce and I have had several conversations about pilgrims and freedom with Thanksgiving coming up, so we went to the place where it all began. In the above columned cage is where The Plymouth Rock lies. It sits down in a pit in the ground and isn't all that big. I'll admit I was a little disappointed the first time I saw it, which was at the end of the Run to the Rock 10K that I did a few months ago. The kids were stoked though. We hiked around and checked out statues of pilgrims and native Americans before heading over to the Mayflower.We did not tour the Mayflower - we got there long before tours began because I wanted to beat the traffic and had other things to do that day - but we walked around the pier and the shore. Bruce decided we need to come back here with Scott and take the tour next time.He also decided that we should decorate the house for Thanksgiving. I have two mini pumpkins on the table that I count as my holiday decor, but I guess that is not enough for Bruce. I asked him how we should decorate and he said (completely seriously), "like the inside of a turkey." I asked him what that looked like and he said (still seriously), "Lots of blood vessels and eggs."

'Tis the season for blood vessels and eggs.

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010 was a quiet holiday, but a good one nonetheless. We'd planned on having another family over to eat the big meal with us, but their plans changed on the Monday before. On Tuesday, Bruce started throwing up so we decided it'd be best not to invite anyone over. Bruce's bug was gone by Wednesday - he even requested bacon and eggs for dinner that night - and we had a day of peace before the next round of sickness.

I love Thanksgiving and I'm so glad we had that one day barf-free. Not only do I love the food, but I love that it's a whole day of gratitude. We had a "thankful jar" that we filled with things we were grateful for (the top picture is of Bruce reading the slips of paper in the jar). I am thankful for Turkey Trots: I ran a 5K on Thursday morning and ran an 18:53, placing sixth for ladies. I wasn't sure what time to expect since I haven't run a road 5K in awhile, but I'm happy that I broke 19. Now to break 18 minutes...

Thanksgiving has become extra special since Phoebe was born. She came home the day before Thanksgiving last year after what felt like an eternity in the hospital. Last year's Thanksgiving was not as polished: I'd stayed up all night staring at Phoebe making sure she was breathing and unable to sleep from joy and excitement. We'd moved a few days before and still invited friends over for dinner. We unpacked the necessary cooking items and fired up the oven, only to find out that our brand new oven had a defective part. We ended up going to their house for dinner. Everyone cooked while I slept on a futon. I missed out last year, so I'm happy to say that I fully participated this year.

Back to this year: Phoebe started throwing up Thursday night. She vomited lots and vomited frequently. After a few hours of that, I called Scott in a panic (he was working at the hospital that night). He came home, checked Phoebe out, and helped clean up lots of barf. It's taken her longer than Bruce to recover; she threw up this morning and is still a sad sack.

On Friday, Bruce and I braved the crowds and did some Black Friday shopping. We got boring stuff like a battery for our thermometer and a winter coat for long-armed Bruce, but we got them at good prices! After our trip to the mall, we headed to the Museum of Science for some fun. We went to the new K'nex exhibit and Bruce got to make a little windmill to bring home. He has taken apart and reassembled those 15 pieces about a hundred times since.

Bruce helped me decorate for Christmas on Saturday. We have the ugliest fake tree ever, but we decided to put it up and then if we get a real tree, we will redecorate. After putting the kids to bed that night, Scott and I relaxed and watched Teen Wolf, which I had never seen. I think that's the best movie we've seen in awhile (it doesn't help that we've seen some real bombs lately - Waterworld, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alice in Wonderland).

Now it is Sunday and I woke up sick. I'm hoping that my recovery time is more like Bruce's and less like Phoebe's!

Things to be thankful for

'Tis the season to be grateful.

Three things I'm thankful for tonight:

1. Large kitchen sink with garbage disposal.

2. Washer and dryer that don't require quarters.

3. Machine washable rugs.

Scott is at the hospital delivering babies tonight, so a friend came over to watch the kids while I went to track practice. But right before I headed out the door, Bruce barfed everywhere. I sent the sitter home, put the kids to bed, and cleaned up vomit. I'm grateful for my "barf cleanup toolkit."

Let's hope this bug gets out of here by Thursday.